Johann Gerhard Meuschen (4 May 1680 – 15 December 1743) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

born in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

. He was the father of

conchologist Conchology, from Ancient Greek κόγχος (''kónkhos''), meaning "cockle (bivalve), cockle", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of mollus ...

Friedrich Christian Meuschen. He studied theology and

Oriental languages Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, ...

at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

, and in 1703 became an associate professor of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

. Afterwards he served as a minister in

(from 1705),

the Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

(from 1707) and

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

(from 1716). In 1723 he moved to

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, where he was appointed community ''Kirchenrath'', and in the meantime taught classes in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the gymnasium. He worked in Coburg for the remainder of his life.

Published works

He was an author of "''Novum Testamentum ex Talmude et antiquitatibus Hebraeorum illustratum''" (1736), which was a collection of treatises of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

from Jewish writings.An introduction to the critical study and knowledge of the Holy ..., Volume 2
by Thomas Hartwell Horne Meuschen was an outspoken opponent of

Jesuitism Casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending abstract rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and jurisprudence. ...

. In 1707 he released an anti-Jesuit pamphlet titled "''Nugae venales Rullenses''", a publication that was publicly condemned and burned. Other noted works by Meuschen include: * ''Heilige Moralien über die Passion'', 1726. * ''Ceremonialia electionis Pontificum Romanorum'', 1731. * ''Postilla mystica evangelica das ist: der geheime geistliche sinn der Sonn- und Festtags- Evangelien...'', 1733. * ''Vitae Summorum Dignitate Et Ervditione Virorum Ex Rarissimis Monumentis Literato Orbi Restitutae'', (1735–41, four parts). * ''Madonna et Santa Casa di Loretto, oder die Liebe Frau und das Heil-Hauss zu Loretto''.

References

translated biography @

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature
(bibliography of J.G.Meuschen) {{DEFAULTSORT:Meuschen, Johann Gerhard German Lutheran theologians 18th-century German Protestant theologians 1680 births 1743 deaths Clergy from Osnabrück University of Jena alumni Academic staff of the University of Kiel German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers